Corned beef and cabbage: Carrots, or no?

I’ve been cooking corned beef and cabbage for a lot of years. I used to always put carrots in the pot. Lately, I don’t. (Potatoes always go in, because the time I didn’t it was much too salty. Potatoes absorb the excess salt.)

So what do you think: Carrots, or no carrots?

Yes.

Why did you stop adding the carrot?

I don’t remember. It might have been because the pot was too small.

Carrots, potatoes and celery are simmered in the broth.
The cabbage is roasted in the oven, though.

Yes to the carrot!

This year the wife is switching things up and making a Smoked Pork Shoulder and Cabbage instead of Corned Beef.

Check.

We usually steam it separately, stovetop.

Best use of carrots is mashed carrots and parsnips. (not our typical recipe, but representative.)

No, they don’t. do potatoes absorb excess salt in food? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board But they taste yummy.

Yes to the carrots.

No to the carrots. Just corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes.

In my experience, they do. Perhaps it has been disproven, but I have found that given a finite amount of salt, some portion of it will season the potatoes.

Potatoes are bland enough that they make you want the excess salt.

I add a ton of carrots because there aren’t many things better then carrots mashed up with potatoes, butter and a little of the juice poured over the top.

I say no to the carrots, but I hate, hate, HATE cooked carrots. I can eat them raw, but cooked, and they are just terrible. My mother would put them in her Irish stew, and I’d torment over having to eat them. The only why I could get through dinner was to mash them up with some potatoes to hide the taste/texture.

Out with the carrots!!

Yes, of course carrots. It’s a sad plate if it’s just corned beef with cabbage and potatoes. The carrots add a nice colorful pop to it and a contrasting sweet flavor. Feel free to add other root veggies, but carrots are absolutely required for me.

Carrots, yes.
Carrots are good with salt.
And corned beef and cabbage amounts to a salt delivery system.
Therefore…

I used to simmer the cabbage, too. That’s how Mom made it when I was a kid.l so I did the same…until I tried it roasted with garlic, olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar. I was totally converted with one bite.

Speaking of seasonal mash recipes, who else wants colcannon?

Yes, why wouldn’t you?

Hells yeah! Or champ. Or both, and boiled potatoes straight up, and carrots-n-parsnips to boot.

Hmm. We do tend to end up with a lot of boiled mashed roots. Yum.

Definitely carrots. Otherwise, it’s not “Irish*.” It took me almost 40 years to realize that the add ons are the colors of the Irish Flag. Green (cabbage), white (potatoes), and orange (carrots.)

*I know corned beef and cabbage isn’t really Irish.

How about green (cabbage), white (potatoes), and orange(-ish) (beef)?

Where are you getting green cabbage from? Kale, sure, but cabbage is white.